Cornelius a Lapide
Table of Contents
Synopsis of the Chapter
This chapter is the introduction to the entire book: for Jeremiah teaches how he was destined by God for the office of prophet, and as it were consecrated from the womb, and this in order to win attention for himself. Whence secondly, in verse 6, called by God to prophesy, he excuses himself, saying: "For I am a child." To whom God replies: "Behold, I have given My words in your mouth: Behold, I have set you this day over the nations and over the kingdoms." Thirdly, in verse 11, he sees a watching rod, and a boiling pot, and through these hears that the destruction of Judea by the Chaldeans is portended. Finally, in verse 18, strengthening him, God says: "I have made you this day a fortified city, and an iron pillar, and a wall of bronze, that you may be stronger than all kings and princes."
Vulgate Text: Jeremiah 1:1-19
1. The words of Jeremiah the son of Hilkiah, of the priests who were in Anathoth, in the land of Benjamin. 2. The word of the Lord came to him in the days of Josiah the son of Amon, king of Judah, in the thirteenth year of his reign. 3. And it came to pass in the days of Joakim the son of Josiah, king of Judah, until the end of the eleventh year of Zedekiah the son of Josiah, king of Judah, until the captivity of Jerusalem, in the fifth month. 4. And the word of the Lord came to me, saying: 5. Before I formed you in the womb, I knew you: and before you came forth from the womb, I sanctified you, and I gave you as a prophet to the nations. 6. And I said: Ah, ah, ah, Lord God: behold, I do not know how to speak, for I am a child. 7. And the Lord said to me: Do not say: I am a child: for to all things to which I shall send you, you shall go: and whatever I shall command you, you shall speak. 8. Do not be afraid of their faces: for I am with you, to deliver you, says the Lord. 9. And the Lord put forth His hand, and touched my mouth: and the Lord said to me: Behold, I have given My words in your mouth: 10. Behold, I have appointed you this day over the nations and over the kingdoms, to root up, and to pull down, and to waste, and to destroy, and to build, and to plant. 11. And the word of the Lord came to me, saying: What do you see, Jeremiah? And I said: I see a watching rod. 12. And the Lord said to me: You have seen well, for I will watch over My word to perform it. 13. And the word of the Lord came to me a second time, saying: What do you see? And I said: I see a boiling pot, and its face is from the face of the north. 14. And the Lord said to me: From the north shall evil break forth upon all the inhabitants of the land. 15. For behold, I will call together all the kindreds of the kingdoms of the north, says the Lord: and they shall come, and each one shall set his throne in the entrance of the gates of Jerusalem, and upon all its walls round about, and upon all the cities of Judah. 16. And I will pronounce My judgments against them concerning all their wickedness, who have forsaken Me, and have sacrificed to strange gods, and have worshipped the work of their own hands. 17. Therefore gird up your loins, and arise, and speak to them all that I command you. Do not be afraid at their presence: for I will make you not to fear their countenance. 18. For behold, I have made you this day a fortified city, and an iron pillar, and a wall of bronze, over all the land, against the kings of Judah, its princes, and its priests, and the people of the land. 19. And they shall fight against you, and shall not prevail: for I am with you, says the Lord, to deliver you.
Verse 1
1. THE WORDS OF JEREMIAH. — This is the title of the book, just as that in Isaiah, chapter 1, "the vision of Isaiah," as if to say: This book contains the words of Jeremiah, that is, the words of God, namely the oracles which God spoke to Jeremiah, and which Jeremiah heard from God; whence the Septuagint translates it: the word of God which came to Jeremiah.
So say St. Jerome, Theodoret, and Rabanus. Secondly, more plainly and fully, as if to say: These are the words, that is, the prophecies which Jeremiah received from God and spoke and proclaimed to the people. So the Chaldean, Lyranus, and Vatablus.
THE SON OF HILKIAH. — Clement of Alexandria, in book 1 of the Stromata, St. Jerome or whoever is the author of the Hebrew Questions on 1 Chronicles, Paul of Burgos, Maldonatus, and the Hebrews think that this Hilkiah, the father of Jeremiah, was the high priest who, in the eighteenth year of Josiah (which was the sixth year after Jeremiah began to prophesy), found the book of Deuteronomy in the treasury, 2 Kings 22:8. This Hilkiah begot Azariah, Azariah begot Seraiah, Seraiah begot Ezra, 1 Esdras 7:1; so that Jeremiah was the uncle of Ezra, being the brother of his grandfather, namely Azariah.
However, if Hilkiah had been the high priest, Scripture would surely not have been silent about this here, because this would greatly contribute to Jeremiah's fame and dignity. Secondly, the phrase "of the priests" plainly indicates that he was an ordinary priest, not the high priest. Thirdly, the high priests lived in Jerusalem near the temple, as Josephus attests in book 20 of the Antiquities, chapter 18; but this Hilkiah lived in Anathoth, whence he came to Jerusalem at the time of his priestly course to perform the priestly service. So the Chaldean, who adds that he was one of the twenty-four overseers of the temple. So also Sanchez in the Introduction.
Verse 2
2. WHICH CAME TO PASS — this is an inversion of word order: for these words should be arranged thus, "the word which came to pass." Here he explains in detail the title of the book, namely "the words of Jeremiah"; the meaning therefore of all this down to verse 4 is, as if to say: These "words," that is these prophecies, are Jeremiah's, and they embrace every word which came from God to Jeremiah in Judea successively over 41 years, namely from the 13th year of Josiah, and then under Joakim down to the fifth month of the eleventh year of Zedekiah, when Jerusalem was captured. Note: He omits Jehoahaz and Jehoiachin, because these reigned only three months. Lyranus, Hugo, and Dionysius explain it differently: "because" (instead of "which") "the word came to pass," etc. But this does not suit the Latin phrasing; otherwise, from the Hebrew it can be translated with Vatablus as, according to which, or just as the word of the Lord came to him.
IN THE THIRTEENTH YEAR OF THE REIGN — of Josiah. Note: From this year Jeremiah began to prophesy; because in the same year Nineveh seems to have been destroyed by Cyaxares king of the Medes and by Nebuchadnezzar the elder, who was the father of Nebuchadnezzar the younger or the Great, the destroyer of Jerusalem; for St. Jerome expressly teaches, in his Preface to Jonah, and Eusebius in his Chronicle, that Nineveh was destroyed not after but before Jerusalem under Josiah, and the same is gathered from Josephus, book 9 of the Antiquities, chapter 11, where he writes that from the time of King Jotham of Judah, under whom he says Nahum foretold the destruction of Nineveh, until its actual destruction, 115 years elapsed. Now the 13th year of Josiah is 115 years from the last year of Jotham's reign; therefore Nineveh seems to have been destroyed in this 13th year of Josiah. Hear St. Jerome citing many witnesses: "And indeed, he says, as far as pertains to Hebrew as well as Greek histories, and especially Herodotus, we read that Nineveh was overthrown when Josiah was reigning among the Hebrews and Astyages was king of the Medes." Now it is certain that it was overthrown by the Chaldeans with the help of the Medes, namely by Nebuchadnezzar the elder, who began to reign in this 13th year of Josiah. The same is confirmed by Tobit, last chapter, verse 6, taken together with verses 10 and following, where it is said that the younger Tobias, before he died, heard of the destruction of Nineveh, which Nebuchadnezzar and Ahasuerus or Cyaxares conquered, as the Septuagint has it; for Tobias died at the age of 99, and as a boy of six or seven years he was carried off with his father into Assyria in the 6th year of Hezekiah; subtract these 7 years from 99, and you will have 92, which is the number of years from the 6th of Hezekiah to the 13th of Josiah, so that Tobias seems to have died in this 13th year of Josiah, shortly after the destruction of Nineveh. Jeremiah therefore, because in this 13th year of Josiah he saw the monarchy and scepter being transferred from Nineveh and the Assyrians to the Babylonians, from this he saw in the same year their watching rod, brooding over Judea and other nations; hence he cries out to all: Take counsel for yourselves; for behold "the lion has come up from his thicket, the spoiler of nations has set out; he has gone forth from his place to make your land a desolation," chapter 4, verse 7. So teach certain recent exact chronologists. However, at Nahum 2:2, I showed that Nineveh was destroyed 27 years after the death of Josiah, namely in the 24th year of Nebuchadnezzar the younger or the Great. The more probable reason, then, why Jeremiah began to prophesy in the 13th year of Josiah, is that around this year Cyaxares began to reign in Media, and Nebuchadnezzar the elder in Babylonia, whose son Nebuchadnezzar the younger later, joining forces with Cyaxares, overthrew Nineveh, transferred the monarchy from the Assyrians to the Babylonians, and consequently subjugated the Jews and all other nations by force of arms. For this is the watching rod that Jeremiah saw in the 13th year of Josiah. Add: It is probable that Cyaxares together with Nebuchadnezzar the elder began to besiege Nineveh around the 13th year of Josiah, but was forced to lift the siege because of the incursion of the Scythians; then he resumed it with Nebuchadnezzar the younger around the fifth year after the destruction of Jerusalem, and then captured it, on which see more at Nahum chapter 2, verse 2.
Verse 3
3. UNTIL THE CAPTIVITY. — He also prophesied after the captivity, in Egypt, as is clear from chapter 44 and following. But the greater and more important of his prophecies concern the captivity and destruction of his nation, and were therefore prior to it. Hence he prefixed this title to them, especially because when the city and nation had been destroyed and affairs were utterly desperate, Jeremiah thought he would prophesy no more, inasmuch as he already saw the end and outcome of his prophecy. But it turned out otherwise: for he prophesied afterwards in Egypt, and those prophecies were added to the earlier ones, to which he had already prefixed this title. Hence it came about that the title, already prefixed to the work, remained. So Sanchez.
Verse 4
4. AND IT CAME TO PASS — as if to say: The word of the Lord began to come to me. The Lord began to speak to me in the 13th year of Josiah, saying: "Before I formed you in the womb, I knew you." For "it came to pass" here signifies an action begun, whereas in verse 3 it signifies a continued action. Again, "and" is taken for "but."
Verse 5
5. BEFORE I FORMED YOU. — Tertullian, in the book On the Soul, chapter 26, reads: before I fashioned you, that is, as a potter, just as I fashioned Adam from clay; for this is what the Hebrew word yatsar means. I KNEW YOU — with a knowledge of approbation, by which I foreknew and predestined you to be formed, that is, to be created as a man, and to be made a minister and prophet of My word; for "to know," "to be aware of," or "to foreknow" is sometimes used for "to predestine," as in Romans 11:2: "God has not cast away His people whom He foreknew." So St. Chrysostom, Homily on Jeremiah, volume 1, Origen, and the Chaldean. Maldonatus thinks that these three phrases are the same: "I knew you, I sanctified you, I gave you as a prophet to the nations." But that these must be distinguished will be clear shortly.
Tropologically, note here that great Saints are designated and destined from childhood for great things, and this often through wonderful portents. The story of St. Eucherius of Orleans is remarkable. On a certain night his mother, having returned home from church after the completion of the nighttime hymns, entered her own chamber and gave herself to rest; and she saw in a dream a man standing by her bed, clothed in garments of wonderful brightness, his head resplendent with venerable white hair, his eyes terrible like flashing gems, saying to her: "Hail, beloved of God, bearing in your womb a blessed child, long since chosen by God to be a future Bishop in this city." The venerable matron said to him: "I beg you to bestow your blessing upon me from your mouth before you depart from me. For I see your countenance as if it were angelic." The angel said to her: "You perceive rightly; for I am an angel of God, sent by Him to bless the offspring that is in your womb. And because you did not oppose doubt to my admonition, but believed that I was sent by God, I will now bless you and the seed to be born from you." Then she, awakening, gave immense thanks to the Most Holy Trinity, and explained to her husband in order the joys of so great a revelation. And he, hearing these things, filled with fear and joy, persevering in thanksgiving, awaited the outcome of the event. The boy was born and baptized, and Ausbertus, Bishop of Autun, received him from the sacred font. So reads the Life of St. Eucherius, February 20.
In the year of the Lord 989, as Baronius relates from the Life of St. Stephen, Geisa, the first duke of the Hungarians, having been baptized, while he was planning to bring his Hungarians to the faith of Christ and to found bishoprics there, an angel appeared to him saying that a son would be born to him who would accomplish this. To his wife also, when she was near to giving birth, appeared the Blessed Levite and protomartyr Stephen, adorned with the insignia of Levitical vestments, addressing her thus: "Trust in the Lord, woman, and be assured that you will bear a son, to whom first belongs the kingdom and crown of this nation. And you shall give him my name." When the woman, not without wonder, asked him who he was, or what he was called, he answered thus: "I am Stephen the protomartyr, who was the first to undergo martyrdom for the name of Christ." Having said these things, he vanished. And so a son was born to the prince (as had been foretold), known to the Lord according to the Prophet before he was conceived in the womb, and called by the Lord through Stephen the protomartyr before he was born. And the blessed and God-beloved Bishop Adalbert baptized him, and the name Stephen was given to him.
When Blessed Eligius (as Blessed Audoenus, Bishop of Rouen, relates in the Life of St. Eligius, in Surius, December 1), Bishop of Noyon, was still enclosed in his mother's womb, his mother saw a wonderful vision. She saw as it were a very beautiful eagle, flying over her bed and calling out to her three times, and promising her something. And when she awoke at the responding voice, greatly frightened, she began to wonder what this vision might be. Meanwhile the time of delivery came, and because of the greatness of the pain the mother began to be in danger. They called a certain devout priest, a man of good reputation, to pray for her. When he came to her, taking up as it were a prophetic word, he said to her: "Do not fear, mother, for the Lord will deign to grant you a blessed birth. For the child will be a holy man, chosen from his people, and will be called a great priest in the Church of Christ."
The mother of Aeneas Sylvius, a noble matron named Victoria, when she was close to giving birth, dreamed that she was bearing a boy wearing a mitre on his head; and since human minds are always prone to think the worst, she feared that the dream portended disgrace for the boy and the family; nor could she be freed from this suspicion until she learned that her son had been designated Bishop of Trieste. At which news, freed from all fear entirely, she gave thanks to the immortal God. He later became the Supreme Pontiff, whom our age knew by the name of Pius II, as Aventinus says in the Life of Pius II.
Hear the priest Marcellinus in the Life of St. Swibert, Bishop of Werden.
"As the hour approached when the blessed child Swibert was to be born from his illustrious mother, suddenly an exceedingly great brightness filled the entire chamber in which the blessed Bertha was giving birth, while all stood astonished and marveling, and it remained with its rays undiminished, until she bore her son; once he was born, the brightness gradually receded. And the matrons gathered there with the midwives, glorifying God, proclaimed everywhere the great wonders of the brightness of the pious Countess."
In the time of Ethelred, king of the Mercians, a certain nobleman born of royal stock begot from his wife named Tetta St. Guthlac, the servant of God. At the very hour when the Lord set him apart from his mother's womb, he was designated by a heavenly portent: for a hand as it were of a man, of a ruddy brightness, sent from heaven and stretched out to the door of the house, was seen to shine with ineffable splendor. This hand, marking the door with the sign of the cross, prefigured with happy augury that he who was coming forth to birth would bear the cross of Christ on his body with constant perseverance. And a multitude of people, running together in amazement at the novelty of the miracle, declared that the prodigy of so unheard-of a vision would prove a great mystery of divine providence. And while they wavered with great astonishment, according to various emotions of the mind, in uncertain opinions, one of the midwives, coming out of the house, proclaimed that the infant had now been born. The newborn was baptized and called Guthlac, which in the English tongue means "gift of war" or "good gift." For he was given by God to his parents to wage war against their oppressors and to bring back triumphal titles of victory over them, says the author of the Life.
St. Bernard's mother, when pregnant, dreamed that she saw herself carrying in her womb a barking puppy; and St. Dominic's mother saw herself carrying a puppy bearing a burning torch in its mouth.
Rodericus of Toledo and Vasaeus relate in the Chronicle, in the year of the Lord 860, that when Iñigo Arista, king of Navarre, died, his son Garcia reigned, a man no less distinguished for the integrity of his life than for his prowess in arms, who married Urraca, a woman of the highest rank. When she was already pregnant and near to giving birth, while he was traveling somewhat carelessly through the mountains, he was overwhelmed by the unexpected assault of Arab enemies who came upon him, and fighting bravely for the faith, he perished. It happened, however, that after the barbarians had departed, a certain nobleman, whose name they say was Guevara, who from the time of Iñigo Arista had been loyal to King Garcia, chanced to come to that place, and saw an infant extending its hand through the wound, as if struggling to get out. Taking pity on the fate of both, he cut open the mother's womb, brought forth the infant, and carefully raised it in his own home. This was done not without witnesses, so that when the matter should require it, the testimony of the deed would be established. When the years of infancy and childhood had passed and the boy had reached adolescence, he surpassed his age in ability and his ability in vigorous deeds, and succeeded King Garcia in the kingdom in the era 218.
On the contrary, in the year of the Lord 1051, as Baronius relates from Lambert of Schafnabourg, in that year Emperor Henry was blessed with a son, and gave him the name Henry, but the Empress Agnes, who bore him in her womb, clearly foresaw by a vision that this son was born to the great harm of the Church: for she saw herself giving birth to a venomous dragon. This very thing, which she herself often attested, is written by the author of the Life of St. Matilda, who lived in the same period. And how true these things were, the events themselves declared.
I SANCTIFIED YOU — I chose you for Myself from among men, I foreordained you, appointed you, prepared you for the prophetic office, which is sacred and holy, and this while you were still in your mother's womb, indeed from eternity. So the Chaldean and Jerome, on Galatians chapter 1, Abulensis, Question 17 on Judges chapter 13, Theodore a Castro, and Sanchez.
Some add: "I sanctified you" means: I chose you for a great and distinguished task. For "holy," they say, sometimes signifies something great and distinguished; because holiness in God and in creatures is a great and distinguished endowment. It is a catachresis. So the Blessed Virgin sings: "For He who is mighty has done great things for me, and holy" — that is, great, august, sacred — "is His name."
Secondly, St. Augustine, Epistle 57: "I sanctified," he says, means: I predestined to sanctify you. Augustine is followed by Jansen in the Concordance of the Gospels, chapter 2, and Salmeron, volume 2, treatise 34. So in John chapter 11, verse 52, those who were still unbelievers are called children of God.
Thirdly and best: "Before you came forth from the womb," that is, while you were already conceived in your mother's womb but not yet born, "I sanctified you," because just as for John the Baptist, so also for you, O Jeremiah, in the womb I remitted original sin and infused sanctifying grace, by which at the same time I constituted and consecrated you as a holy Prophet; whence, explaining this, he adds: "I gave you as a prophet to the nations." For the word "to sanctify" signifies both things: first, to set apart from what is common and profane, and to appoint and consecrate to the service of God. Thus priests, prophets, and kings are sanctified, as sacred ministers of God's providence and justice. Secondly, to set apart from sin, so that each may serve God purely and holily in his own rank and vocation, just as here Jeremiah in the womb is called and sanctified to be a Prophet. Macrobius embraces both meanings in book 3 of the Saturnalia, chapter 3, when he says: "What is holy is either the same as what is sacred or religious, or what is uncorrupted and ignorant of fault." See St. Thomas in the Fourth Book of Sentences, distinction 1, question 1, article 5; question 1, ad 1, and the Third Part, question 40, article 1, ad 2. This exposition is proved first, because this is the proper meaning of the word "I sanctified," and "before you came forth from the womb," that is, in the womb itself. Secondly, because the phrase in which He said: "Before I formed you in the womb, I knew you," signifying that from eternity I foreknew, loved, and predestined you for holiness and the prophetic office, is different from this one, where He says: "Before you came forth from the womb," that is, in the womb,
"I sanctified you." For this signifies the execution and effect of God's knowledge and predestination, as if to say: In the womb I actually carried out My eternal purpose, by infusing into you, already conceived, the grace and holiness to which from eternity I knew and predestined you, namely that you might be a worthy and chosen Prophet for Me, breathing and inspiring extraordinary holiness against the most wicked Jews and Gentiles; just as from then, that is, from the womb, I gave you as a Prophet to the nations, that is, I constituted you. For extraordinary holiness is the best preparation for preaching, especially to unbelievers and rebels such as these Jews were; without which, learning, eloquence, and other gifts would have availed little, and still avail little. Thirdly, because in Ecclesiasticus chapter 49, verse 9, Jeremiah is said to have been "consecrated a prophet from his mother's womb." How was he consecrated? Not through the gift of prophecy, as is clear, but through the infusion of sanctifying grace, by which he was at the same time constituted a prophet, God specially so ordaining. For those words of Ecclesiasticus to Jeremiah correspond to these words of God. Fourthly, because this special privilege is attributed to Jeremiah from this passage by St. Athanasius, St. Jerome, St. Leo, St. Gregory Nazianzen, Origen, Ambrose, Peter Damian, and St. Thomas, Third Part, question 27, article 6, where in reply to objection 1 he adds: "It is believed to have been granted to those sanctified in the womb that thenceforth they would not sin mortally, divine grace protecting them." The same is taught by St. Bernard and commonly by the Fathers and Scholastics, who are cited and followed by Francis Suarez, Third Part, question 27, article 2, disputation 3, section 1, and Sebastian Barradius on Luke chapter 1, verse 44. And this seems to be the common sense of the Doctors and the faithful, so that it is no longer permissible to doubt it, says Antonius Fernandius, Vision 2. The reason is that, above other Prophets, Jeremiah alone was chosen to sustain by his holiness the falling city and Church in the midst of the utter confusion and devastation of all things; whence from the womb he received grace, constancy, and other virtues necessary for so great a prophetic office, by special privilege and in order to win greater authority among the people. Wherefore St. Ildephonsus, in the book On the Perpetual Virginity of Mary, less probably argues from the fact that Jeremiah, in chapter 20, verse 14, calls the day on which he was born cursed, that he was not purged from original sin in his mother's womb; Abulensis shares this opinion in Judges chapter 13, question 16.
St. Jerome hints at something similar regarding the virgin Asella, in Epistle 15 to Marcella: "I pass over," he says, "the fact that she was blessed in her mother's womb before she was born; that in a vial of shining glass, purer than a spotless mirror, the virgin was presented to her father in a dream; that while still wrapped in infant swaddling clothes, scarcely beyond the tenth year of her age, she was consecrated with the honor of future blessedness. Let everything that preceded her labors be attributed to grace, even though God in His foreknowledge sanctifies Jeremiah in the womb, makes John leap in his mother's womb, and separates Paul before the foundation of the world for the Gospel of His Son."
So St. Ephrem, in the Oration on the Transfiguration of Christ, believed that Moses was sanctified in his mother's womb; and St. Ambrose, in book 4 of On the Faith, chapter 4, believed that the patriarch Jacob, who in the womb struggled with and supplanted Esau, was then justified. Some have held the same about Samson, St. Joseph, James the brother of the Lord, and others, but without foundation.
Morally, note here the order which God observes in choosing fit ministers for His Church, namely that before all else He imbues them with His grace, and makes them His friends and intimates. For this reason, as St. Augustine observes, the Doctor of the Gentiles, describing himself in Romans chapter 1, verse 5, says: "Through whom we have received grace and apostleship" — he gave first place to grace, second to the apostleship. "For thus the Evangelical trumpet" (says Gregory Nazianzen in the Oration on the Episcopate of Nazianzus) "produced a fitting harmony from the inner man best composed according to God, with the Holy Spirit suitably sent forth." Therefore he says that Saul's prophesying passed into a proverbial mockery, because a depraved and dissolute instrument cannot produce beauty and harmony. Rightly therefore God here, before He pronounced concerning Jeremiah the words: "And I gave you as a prophet to the nations," first stated: "Before I formed you in the womb, I knew you." And He aptly said not "preacher" but "prophet," because just as a prophet cannot prophesy without the spirit of prophecy, so neither can a preacher preach without the spirit and grace of preaching. Wherefore St. Chrysostom, Homily 19 on Matthew, giving the reason why Christian teachers are called Prophets, says it is because just as the Prophets were once anointed, so Christian teachers must first be anointed with the anointing of grace.
Note that prophecy is not a permanent habit, nor was it actually given to Jeremiah in the womb, but only through: first, a special divine appointment for this purpose; second, a sanctification ordered to this end; and third, through God's help and inspiration prepared for Jeremiah, so that he might prophesy at the opportune time. For these things were not given to Jeremiah in the womb, but only destined and prepared by God.
AND I GAVE YOU AS A PROPHET TO THE NATIONS. — First, Origen, Cyprian in book 1 Against the Jews, chapter 21; Gregory of Nyssa in the book Against the Jews; Ambrose on verse 3 of Psalm 43, understand this of Christ, who called the nations to Himself. But this is an allegorical, not a literal, sense. Secondly, Victorinus the Martyr on Revelation chapter 11 thinks that Jeremiah will come with Elijah against the Antichrist, to preach to the Gentiles; for while he lived, he preached only to the Jews. Whence his death is also passed over in silence in Scripture, as if he lives in paradise. Hence also in Matthew 16:14, some thought that Christ was Jeremiah; and Josippon son of Gorion, in book 1 of the Jewish History, chapter 17, says: When Jeremiah hid the ark, he said: "No man shall know, nor shall the place be known, until I come, and Elijah the prophet, and then we will restore the ark to its place in the Holy of Holies." But the common tradition of the Fathers is that only Enoch will come with Elijah, as I shall discuss at Ecclesiasticus chapter 44, verse 16, and chapter 48, verse 10.
I respond therefore: "I gave you as a prophet among the nations," that is, to the nations or for the nations. So Pagninus; or, as Hugo and Vatablus have it, against the nations. For although Jeremiah worked among the Jews, he also prophesied about the Egyptians, Babylonians, and other Gentile nations, and threatened them with destruction, as is clear from chapters 25 and 27; and so Jeremiah explains himself here in verse 10. So St. Jerome, Theodoret, and Origen. Maldonatus adds that "among the nations" means: so as to foretell the victory of the Chaldeans and other nations against the Jews, as is explained in verse 15: "For behold, I will call together all the kindreds of the kingdoms of the north, etc., against all the cities of Judah." Finally, Jeremiah actually prophesied "among the nations" when in Tahpanhes he foretold to the Egyptians that they would be devastated by the Chaldeans, as is clear from chapter 44, verse 1 and following.
Therefore Jeremiah, say a Castro and Antonius Fernandius, Vision 2, when he began to prophesy, was 14 or 15 years old: for such is a boy. Jeremiah had learned that saying of the Wise Man: "Boy, be silent and listen. For just as the rose is the purple of spring, so silence and the blush of modesty are the purple of youth."
Note: God chose boys, Daniel and Jeremiah, for prophesying, so that men might know with certainty that it was God who was speaking such great things through boys.
Tropologically, see in St. Gregory, Part 1 of the Pastoral Rule, chapter 7, how the office of preaching should be either declined or accepted. Again, let those who are chosen or destined by God for great things learn here to acknowledge their own rudeness and childishness, and learn to place themselves after all, even after children. So did St. Bernard, who, as the author of the Life relates, book 2, chapter 4: "Was the most relentless enemy of pride. For although his deeds and words were confirmed by miracles, he never went beyond himself, never walked above himself in wondrous things; but always thinking humbly of himself, he believed himself not the author but the minister of his venerable works; and though in the judgment of all he was the greatest, in his own judgment he held himself the least: he ascribed whatever he did to God alone; indeed he both felt and said that he could neither will nor do anything good except by the inspiration and working of God." The same author, in chapter 7, relates that he taught his followers this: "Do not greatly care about being judged by a human standard; neither approving your own judgments nor those of others, stand in the fear of God in such a way that, neither judging anyone, you may ever be exalted, nor caring about the judgments of others you may fall into trifles, but pursuing each thing, count yourselves unprofitable servants." For this reason he himself fled singularity and admiration, and therefore put aside the hair-shirt which he had secretly worn, once it became known.
And in Sermon 37 on the Song of Songs he says: "Do not, O man, compare yourself to those greater than you, nor to those less, nor to some, nor to one. For what do you know, O man, whether that one person whom you perhaps regard as the most worthless and miserable and as the most wicked of all, may not, by the change of the right hand of the Most High, be destined to be better than you in himself, and indeed in God (in God's predestination) already is? Hence the Lord commanded you to recline not in the next to last, but in the very last place, so that you may not only not prefer yourself to anyone, but not even presume to compare yourself."
Moreover, this applies especially to the preacher, whose office is most difficult: "What is it," says Gregory Nazianzen in the Apologeticus, "to strike a harmony from a musical instrument of many pipes, with many simultaneous beats? For who will aptly arrange as many wills as there are listeners, to compose a harmony fitting to God?" Difficult is what he adds: "Preachers are craftsmen before the open world," who must, as it were, by crushing men, shape them by the power of their preaching. Wise men will require divine men. This is what the Psalmist says in Psalm 67, verse 12: "The Lord shall give the word to those who preach the good news, with great power." From the mouth of God proceed words breathing divinity.
Verse 6
6. AND I SAID: AH, AH, AH. — Viegas on Revelation chapter 4, section 5, number 4, thinks the mystery of the Most Holy Trinity is hinted at here. For, he says, Jeremiah said "Ah" three times, which is the voice of one who stammers and is still an infant child, because of the three divine Persons; to indicate that in comparison with that mystery he was an infant and did not yet know how to speak articulately. For the Most Holy Trinity was speaking with him: the Father saying: "I knew you," the Son saying: "I sanctified you," the Holy Spirit saying: "I gave you as a prophet." But this interpretation, though symbolic, is more subtle than solid; for the topic here is not the mystery of the Trinity, nor was Jeremiah being sent to promulgate it; moreover, instead of "ah, ah, ah," there is in Hebrew only one word, as I shall now explain.
AH, AH, AH — The Hebrew word ahah is one word and an interjection; our translator seems to have added a vowel to each consonant (for there are three), thus: a ha ha. Now "ahah" for the Hebrews is an interjection of wonder and grief, as when someone faint-hearted, groaning, grieving, and astonished, tries to shake off a burden imposed as if unequal to his strength, as Jeremiah does here. Therefore what St. Thomas, or rather Thomas the Englishman, supposes — that by the threefold "Ah, Ah, Ah" three deficiencies are indicated that made Jeremiah unfit for prophesying, namely deficiency of age, knowledge, and eloquence — is more subtle than solid. I shall say more about the word "ahah" at Joel 1:15.
The Septuagint, instead of "ahah," read "adonai"; for they translate: "O Sovereign, Lord," that is, You who are Master, Lord. For "who are" is the name of God, Exodus 3:14. I DO NOT KNOW HOW TO SPEAK (that is, to prophesy, says the Chaldean), FOR I AM A CHILD — as if to say: Because of my youth I do not know how to speak of such great matters, and because of childish fear I do not dare to speak before men and princes. To his first excuse God responds in verse 7: "To all things to which I shall send you, you shall go, etc., you shall speak," that is, you will be able to go and speak. To his second, in verse 8: "Do not fear, etc., for I am with you." For God supplies both courage and whatever words are needed: "For our sufficiency is from God," 2 Corinthians chapter 3, verse 5, as if to say: Do not fear your youth; I will make you a fit, eloquent, and bold man.
Therefore it seems that Jeremiah, say a Castro and Antonius Fernandius, Vision 2, when he began to prophesy, was 14 or 15 years old: for such is a boy.
Verse 8
8. DO NOT BE AFRAID OF THEIR FACES — do not fear those to whom I shall send you; for you will say: "The Lord is my helper: I will not fear what man can do to me," Psalm 117, verse 6. He mentions the face because boys and young men are especially accustomed to fear and revere the countenances of noble and powerful men; for the majesty of the countenance, as well as anger and indignation, appears most in the face.
Verse 9
9. AND THE LORD SENT (extended) HIS HAND. — Understand, with St. Jerome and Rabanus, that God sent an angel who, in an assumed body, touched with his hand the mouth of Jeremiah and said: "Behold, I have given My words in your mouth." And this, first, so that by this touch He might consecrate him as a Prophet and open his mouth for prophesying. Secondly, so as to give him confidence and courage, that the Lord would be with him and would supply his words: so to Isaiah in chapter 6 a Seraph is sent. Thirdly, so that Jeremiah might know that what he was about to preach were not his own words but God's, placed in his mouth. Fourthly, so that he might not fear the touch and blows of a human hand, say St. Jerome and Origen, for he was to suffer much from the Jews. By this angelic touch he was fortified and strengthened in advance.
BEHOLD — in Hebrew re'eh, that is, see, or pay attention; that is, turn your mind to what I am about to say to you. I HAVE APPOINTED YOU TODAY (and from now I appoint you as Prophet) (the past tense is used for the present) OVER THE NATIONS AND OVER THE KINGDOMS (both of the Jews and of other nations all around), TO ROOT UP — that is, to threaten My enemies ("whom" in their regions "I planted," that is, firmly established, and "I built up," that is, increased and stabilized with offspring, family, riches, cities, and resources, as He says in chapter 45, verse 4 below) that I will root them out through wars and the calamities of the Chaldeans, unless they repent, as happened, as is clear from chapter 25 and following. On the other hand, that I will build up again and plant those whom I have destroyed and rooted out, if they repent, as happened, as is clear from chapter 42, verse 10. So St. Jerome, Theodoret, Rabanus, Lyranus, Vatablus, Dionysius the Carthusian, and others.
Note: There is partly a metaphor here from gardening; for just as a gardener plants and uproots trees, so God plants and uproots nations; and partly a Hebraism, by which real actions are expressed through mental or verbal ones. For Jeremiah did not actually plant or uproot nations: therefore "to root up, and to destroy, and to waste, and to scatter, and to build, and to plant" is the same as: to threaten and foretell that these nations will be rooted up, destroyed, wasted, and scattered by God; and that those nations will be built up and planted. See Canon 29.
So tropologically, says St. Gregory, Part 3 of the Pastoral Rule, chapter 35, the preacher uproots from a person the kingdom of pride, lust, etc., in order to plant the kingdom of chastity, humility, etc.; and he adds that it is said first: "To root up and to destroy; then, to build and to plant. Because, he says, unless he destroyed the perverse, he could not usefully build up what is right; because unless he uprooted the thorns of vain love from the hearts of his listeners, he would surely plant in them the words of holy preaching in vain." The teacher, therefore, in order to be able usefully to teach his listeners good things, must first unteach them evil things. Hence St. Augustine, in book 4 of On Christian Doctrine, calls ecclesiastical teachers sowers of right faith and conquerors of errors. Moreover: "It is easier to impress truths on a soul still untutored and like wax not yet stamped, than to write over what has already been inscribed with letters, as it were, that is, with pestilential opinions, what is true," says Gregory Nazianzen in the Apologeticus. For this task, therefore, immense zeal, spirit, effort, and efficacy are needed, says St. Gregory in the passage cited.
This inauguration of the Prophet was symbolic. Just as the burning coal from the altar touched the mouth of Isaiah, 6:7, and a book was given to Ezekiel to eat, 2:8-10, so here the divine hand touched his mouth.
Verse 11
11. I SEE A WATCHING ROD. — So Aquila and Symmachus. "Watching," that is, threatening, poised and agitating itself, and ready to strike, says Rupertus. Secondly, the Septuagint translates: I see a rod of nut-wood; Theodotion, I see an almond rod, which is the first among trees to awaken, that is, it is eager to put forth its flowers; for the almond tree in Hebrew is called shaked, that is, watching, as if to say: I see a branch of almond tree that precedes the other trees and comes before the dawn in putting forth flowers, that is, I see a scourge that will suddenly seize the unprepared Jews, which will come much sooner than you think, O Jews, and will outstrip your fear. So Vatablus, Pagninus, Rabbi Solomon, and others. Whence the Syriac translates: I see a rod of almond. And the Lord said to me: You have seen well, for I hasten over My word to carry it out; and the Arabic: I saw a rod from the almond trees. And the Lord said to me: How well you have seen, O Jeremiah! He hints through the almond rod that, just as the almond tree is precocious in its greenery, quickly outstripping all other trees, so My judgment, that is, My punishment, will hasten. Theodoret observes: Just as a nut or almond has a bitter shell but a sweet kernel, so discipline and chastisement are at first unpleasant, but then produce fruit, the sweetness of good character.
By this vision, therefore, of the almond and watching rod, God signified to Jeremiah that He would quickly hasten the punishments and the Babylonian captivity which He had threatened to the Jews. For in the twenty-third year from this time, namely in the third year of Joakim, Nebuchadnezzar seized Joakim and led away Daniel and others; and in the fortieth year from this time, he devastated Jerusalem and burned the temple. This watching rod shown to Jeremiah was therefore similar to the portent or prodigy of a comet, which, appearing in the shape of a rod or sword, portends plague, war, and devastation to men, as if an indicator of God's wrath.
In a similar way, the great Simeon Stylites saw a rod portending famine and plague for the world. Hear Theodoret, an eyewitness, in the History of the Fathers, chapter 26: "He predicted the drought and great barrenness of that year, and the famine and plague that followed together, two years in advance, saying that he had foreseen the rod that is inflicted upon men, and the scourges that are threatened through it." And shortly after: "Once, he said, two rods appeared to him, which were borne from the heavens and fell upon the Eastern and Western lands. This insurrection of the Persian and Scythian peoples against the Roman Empire the divine man signified, and he recounted the vision to those who were present, and with many tears and constant prayers he held back the plagues whose threats were directed against the world. The Persian nation, indeed already armed and prepared to invade the Romans, was delayed from its undertaking by the opposing divine will, and was occupied internally with its own troubles." Would that we had similar Simeons who might restrain or dispel the rods of God!
Moral Application
Morally, let sinners learn here that God and God's vengeance keep watch and are vigilant over sins, to chastise and punish them quickly. So Belshazzar, sacrilegious and drunk, soon saw the hand writing on the wall: Mane, Tekel, Peres, which that very night brought destruction upon him and his kingdom, Daniel chapter 5. So "a watcher and holy one descended from heaven, cried out mightily, and said: Cut down the tree," that is, cast the proud Nebuchadnezzar from his kingdom to the beasts, Daniel 4:10 and 14. So God kept watch over Cain's fratricide, saying: "What have you done? The voice of your brother's blood cries out to Me from the earth: now therefore you shall be cursed upon the earth, a wanderer and a fugitive," etc.; and this God had foretold to him: "If you do well, you shall receive; but if badly, sin (the punishment of sin) will be at the doors at once," Genesis 4:7, 10 and 11. See what was said there.
The Gentiles also felt and experienced the same. So the Maltese, seeing a viper attack the hand of St. Paul, said: "Surely this man is a murderer, who, although he has escaped from the sea, vengeance does not allow him to live," Acts 28:4. So Callippus was killed by his own associates with the same dagger with which he had murdered Dion under the guise of friendship. So when Mitius of Argos had been killed in a riot, a bronze statue in the forum, when games were being held, fell upon the killer of Mitius
chastisement is at first painful; but then it produces fruit, the sweetness of good character.
Thirdly, Viegas on Revelation chapter 15, Commentary 1, section 1, properly explains "watching" as "having eyes," or having open and vigilant eyes. For it signifies God's providence and justice, which is entirely watchful, and does not inflict punishment by error, but strikes with the greatest judgment and examination, so that the greatness of the punishment does not exceed the greatness of the fault, nor indeed even equal it. Whence
Note: This watching rod signifies, first, God's power and dominion; also His watchfulness and providence. For this reason the almond rod of Aaron which blossomed, and which confirmed his pontificate, was a symbol of priestly vigilance, as I have said from Cyril and others at Numbers 17:8. So the Egyptians depicted God as an eye resting on a staff, to signify His omniscience and ever-watchful care, as if pastoral, as One who sees and governs all things like a shepherd and king, whose emblem is a scepter or rod, with which He feeds the good and strikes the wicked. So Cyril, book 9 Against Julian, after the beginning.
So the Egyptians depicted Osiris, as a king beholding all things, as a scepter having an eye carved upon it, say Macrobius, book 1, chapter 21, and Plutarch in his book On Isis and Osiris, where they add that the Phrygians depicted God, who governs all things, as a rod adorned with the sun. Hence the Greeks also: They name God (Theos) from "theeasthai" (to behold): for God, says Homer, is "the Sun who sees all things and hears all things." And many of the ancients, says Pierius, book 33 of the Hieroglyphics, represented God as a standing staff; because God stands immovable, sustaining and supporting all things, says Cyril above. How great, therefore, is the blindness of men who dare to sin in the sight of this most luminous avenging eye! For, as Pliny says: "God is entirely sense, entirely sight, entirely hearing, entirely soul, entirely mind, entirely Himself." So he himself says, in book 2 of the Natural History, chapter 7. And Tertullian, in the book On the Trinity, called God entirely an eye, who being all sees all: and elsewhere he says God's eye knows no sleep, since He is light itself, watchfulness indeed appointed by the very order of nature.
Secondly and properly, this watching rod signifies the swift vengeance of God; for this is what the Lord, explaining this rod, adds in verse 12: "You have seen well, for I will watch over My word to carry it out." So St. Jerome and Theodoret. Hence the Chaldean clearly translates: I see the king of the Chaldeans, hastening to do evil and to strike the Jews and other nations. Hence again, from the Hebrew, it can be translated with some as: I see the rod of the Watcher, namely God. So Attila said he was the scourge of God, and concerning the king of the Assyrians the Lord says, Isaiah 10:5: "Woe to Assyria, the rod of My fury, and the staff itself is in their hands, My indignation." So Ezekiel, chapter 7, verse 10: "Behold, he says, the day, behold it comes: destruction has gone forth, the rod has blossomed (long pregnant and foretold by Jeremiah), pride has sprouted," etc.
and killed him. So Bessus, after he had murdered his father and the crime had been concealed, at last, when about to dine at a certain inn, struck down with a spear a certain swallows' nest and killed the chicks; and when those present asked why he had done this, he said: "Do you not hear the swallows falsely crying out and testifying against me that I am the murderer of my father?" Those present, amazed, reported this speech to the king, and once the matter was established by certain evidence, Bessus paid the penalty. Plutarch relates this in his book On the Delay of Divine Vengeance. Sin therefore carries its punishment with it, and is bound to it, and just as an executioner holds a criminal bound by a rope and leads him to punishment, so vengeance presses and drags the sinner to his penalty. Moreover, this watching rod rouses sinners by terrifying them, and compels them to awaken from the sleep of sins, according to: "Awake, you just, and do not sin," 1 Corinthians 15:34. And: "Arise, you who sleep, and rise from the dead, and Christ will enlighten you," Ephesians 5:14. Hence some translate "watching rod" as "a rod that causes watching," taking it as the hiphil form in the Hebrew manner. Therefore "the life of mortals is a vigil," as Christ warned: "Watch, for you do not know at what hour your Lord will come," Matthew 24:42. For it is better to keep watch in modest labor than to keep watch in the fires of hell, especially since this watching leads to vigilant and everlasting joy in heaven.
Verse 13
13. A BOILING POT — that is, Jerusalem, set ablaze by Nebuchadnezzar through Nebuzardan; or, as it is in Hebrew, blown upon: for so Jerusalem is called, Ezekiel 11:7 and chapter 24:3. So St. Jerome, Theodoret, Rabanus, Hugo, St. Thomas, Lyranus, Dionysius. He alludes to the frying pans and pots of criminals and martyrs, such as those of the Maccabees, book 2, chapter 7:3, which Amos also threatens to the guilty in chapter 4:2. Such also was the bull of Phalaris.
Secondly, and better, as Hieronymus Prado says, the pot can be understood as being the same as the rod, namely God's breast, seething and boiling with bile, from which this fury and blast of God's indignation boiled over, of which Ezekiel 1:4 speaks. Hence the Syriac translates: a pot set up (placed over a fire) for cooking food.
Thirdly, and best, the Chaldean, Pagninus, and Vatablus take the Hebrew word naphuach not as a participle meaning "blown upon," but as a noun, and translate: I see a boiling, seething, bubbling pot, namely Nebuchadnezzar with his army, breathing out and boiling over with the fire of fury against the Jews; for this pot was coming from the north, that is, from Chaldea, to burn and devastate Jerusalem and other kingdoms.
Note: The pot signifies and confirms the same vengeance as the rod, but a more severe one. So Joseph saw the famine which he first saw signified through the ears of grain, confirmed and hastened through the cows, Genesis 41:32.
In the boiling pot he seems to allude to the hearth-fire which, in a brazier or pot, lest it be extinguished by the wind, was carried before the kings of the Chaldeans and Persians; for they worshiped fire as a god; hence their kings, aspiring to divine honors, had fire carried before them, as if to say: The advance fire is coming, and consequently Nebuchadnezzar himself, who like fire will rage against you, O Jews, and burn you up. So Sanchez.
Tropologically, Origen, Rupert, and Ambrose on Psalm 38, near the end: First God here presents to the penitent the rod of correction; but if they refuse, He reserves for the impenitent the pot of hell, just as that holy hermit saw King Theodoric cast after death into the pot of Vulcan, as reported in St. Gregory, Dialogues 4, chapter 30.
Secondly, St. Gregory, Moralia 18, chapter 11, and book 33, chapter 11: "The boiling pot," he says, "is the human heart seething with carnal desires and anxieties, kindled by the devil, and boiling through consent, when it casts forth as many waves, as it were by boiling, as it extends wickednesses of desires to outward works."
And St. Thomas: "The sinful soul," he says, "is called a pot: first, because of the fervor of concupiscence, Job 41:22: He will make the deep sea boil like a pot; secondly, because of the carnality of works, Micah 3:3: They broke their bones and cut them as into a cauldron, and as flesh into the midst of a pot; thirdly, because of the blackness of stain. Nahum 2:10: The faces of all of them are like the blackness of a pot. Moreover, this pot is kindled by fire: first, of love, Psalm 79:17: Burned with fire, and dug up, they shall perish at the rebuke of Your countenance; secondly, of anger and contention, Isaiah chapter 50:11: Behold, you who kindle fire, girt with flames; thirdly, of eternal damnation, Deuteronomy 32:22: A fire is kindled in My fury, and shall burn even to the lowest depths of hell." Thus far St. Thomas.
AND ITS FACE FROM THE FACE OF THE NORTH — that is, the pot itself was coming from the north, namely from Chaldea it was heading toward Judea. For "face" among the Hebrews, by synecdoche, is the same as "person"; for a person is recognized by their face: again, "person" is taken by metaphor even for an inanimate thing; for the Hebrews figuratively attribute a mouth, face, person, etc. to it.
Secondly, Maldonatus takes "face" to mean the mouth of the pot; for this, spewing flames, coming from Chaldea, was looking toward Judea. But the former sense is simpler; for in the same way he calls the face of the north the north itself, as he explains in the following verse.
The Chaldean explains what this "face" signifies, when he translates: and the standard of his (Nebuchadnezzar's) army, which is led and comes from the face of the north.
Verse 14
14. FROM THE NORTH — from Babylon, which although it is Eastern, is nevertheless northern in relation to Jerusalem; which is four degrees more equa-
torial than Jerusalem. So Theodoret, Dionysius, and Vatablus. Or rather because Nebuchadnezzar first besieged and took Nineveh, which was to the north of Chaldea, in this 13th year of Josiah, as many believe; then, going around Syria and pressing the northern nations into his army, he entered Judea through Dan, which is northern in relation to Jerusalem; for so Jeremiah explains himself in the following verse and in chapter 4, verses 6 and 13. So Hugo, Lyranus, and a Castro.
Symbolically, the north is cold, harsh, and the left-hand region of the world; hence left signifies sad things and the dire vengeance of God: but the south is warm, gentle, and the right-hand region of the world; hence it signifies the benign hand of God, and God's help and favor; thus God gave the Jews the law at Sinai, which is to the south of Judea, and this is what is said in Habakkuk 3:3: "God will come from the south." The north is therefore a symbol of death, and brings death to plants; the south, of life. For cold is the enemy, and as Cardanus says, the devil of nature; but life consists in warmth: therefore the sun is the life of the universe.
The north therefore signifies a storm, that is, that the calamity would be the greatest. For no wind is as fierce as the north wind, none so rapid, so cold, so burning; hence Sirach 43:22: "The cold north wind, he says, blew, and ice froze from the water; it will rest upon every gathering of waters, and like a breastplate it will clothe itself with waters. And it will devour mountains, and burn up the wilderness, and extinguish what is green as if with fire."
SHALL BE OPENED — shall be spread, shall burst forth; the Chaldean renders: shall begin to come; in Hebrew it is "shall be opened," as though hitherto shut up in the caverns and treasuries of God, now a great evil, a great disaster and calamity, shall be released and sent forth, which the Chaldeans will bring upon the Jews and other neighboring nations by subjugating and devastating them.
He alludes to the Hebrew tsaphon, meaning "north," as if to say "hidden," from the root tsaphan, meaning "to hide." For there was a report that because of the cold there were no or few Hyperboreans; or at least that the northern peoples were unknown to the Jews, and they had no commerce with them, says Forerius on Isaiah chapter 49:12. Hence mystically St. Augustine says the north is the seat of the devil and heretics, as is evident today as they rage in Germany, England, Scotland, and other northern regions. Hence in Song of Songs chapter 4:16, it is said: "Arise, north wind, and come, south wind, blow upon my garden, and let its aromas flow." Explaining this passage, St. Augustine, Epistle 20 to Honoratus, says: "The devil and his angels, turned away from the light and fervor of charity, and having progressed excessively into pride and envy, grew numb as with glacial hardness, and therefore are figuratively placed, as it were, in the north."
For to these mystically corresponds what Solinus writes physically about Boreas and the Northern regions, chapter 20: "A condemned part of the world," he says, "and plunged by the nature of things into a cloud of eternal darkness, and most frozen by the very receptacles of the north wind, alone of all lands it knows not the changes of the seasons; nor does it receive from the sky anything other than everlasting winter." Hence consequently, so that punishment may be inflicted where the fault was committed, and reward given where virtue flourished, the symbolists teach that God has two tribunals: one of clemency and happiness in the south, the other of severity and vengeance in the north.
Of the former it is said in Song of Songs 1: "Where do you pasture, where do you lie down at noon?" Hence God, wishing to mercifully heal the sin of Adam, walks gently toward the south, Genesis 3:8. That the other is in the north is clear, because from there Lucifer was cast down, who had said: "I will sit on the mount of the covenant, on the sides of the north," Isaiah chapter 14:13. There also, on the left (for the left part of the world is northern, the right is southern), with the reprobate standing, Christ will say on the day of judgment: "Depart, you cursed, into eternal fire."
UPON ALL THE LAND — of Judea; for that is what is discussed here. A similar passage is in chapter 25:9.
Verse 15
15. THEY SHALL SET EACH ONE HIS THRONE (that is, his tent, or his seat) AT THE ENTRANCE OF THE GATES (that is, at the gates, beside the gates) OF JERUSALEM — to besiege it. So St. Jerome, Rabanus, St. Thomas, and others. Lyranus alone explains it differently: namely, as if to say, once victory is won, the Chaldeans will set up the judges' throne, as was customary, at the gate, to judge and punish the Jews who resisted them.
Verse 16
16. I WILL SPEAK MY JUDGMENTS WITH THEM — namely with the Jews, that is, I will rebuke and reprove through Nebuchadnezzar, Zedekiah and the Jews as ungrateful, rebellious, treaty-breakers, and perjurers. Josephus adds, Antiquities book 10, chapter 10, that Nebuchadnezzar said to Zedekiah: "The great God, hating your wickedness, has subjugated you to our empire;" and this is clear from 2 Kings 25:6, below in chapter 4:12 and chapter 12:1.
Secondly, St. Jerome, Rabanus, Hugo, and Maldonatus: "I will speak judgments," they say, that is, I will show them in reality that I am taking punishments upon them for just causes, namely because of their crimes.
Thirdly, St. Thomas, Lyranus, and Dionysius: "I will speak," that is, I will decree, and by My command I will inflict judgments upon them, that is, just and deserved punishments. The first sense is the simplest and truest in this passage.
THEY OFFERED LIBATIONS — that is, as the Septuagint renders, they sacrificed; in Hebrew iekatteru, that is, they burned incense, they offered frankincense, which amounts to the same thing: for in sacrifices flesh was burned to God, and through fire and smoke ascended to God, and to signify this they placed frankincense upon the victims and burned it with them; for incense is owed and burned to God.
Verse 17
17. YOU THEREFORE GIRD UP YOUR LOINS — that is, first, make haste, prepare yourself. So it is said in Luke 12:35:
"Let your loins be girded;" secondly, strengthen yourself, be of brave spirit. So it is said in Job 40:2: "Gird your loins like a man." Hence it is clear that this is the literal and genuine sense, rather than what is commonly said, that by the girding of the loins, the Prophet and preacher is commanded to pursue chastity.
FOR NOT — in Hebrew pen, that is, "lest"; sometimes pen simply signifies the negation "not," as in Proverbs 5:6; Isaiah 27:3. It means the same here; hence our translator renders it "nor."
FOR I WILL MAKE YOU FEAR. — This is a Hebrew inversion (antianastrophe), as if to say: I will cause you not to fear; I will remove every danger that you might fear. Or secondly, it can be translated from the Hebrew: Lest I make you afraid, or, lest I crush or destroy you before them, as if to say: If you do not trust Me, I will abandon you, hand you over and allow you, says St. Jerome, to fear; indeed I will crush you, because of the dishonor you inflict upon Me, your God, in that you hesitate in the faith given to you by Him. So God punished the hesitant Moses, Numbers 20:12, and rebuked Peter fearing the strong wind, saying: "O you of little faith, why did you doubt?" Matthew 14:31. So translate the Chaldean, Pagninus, and Vatablus, and even the Septuagint according to St. Jerome.
I HAVE MADE YOU (I give, I appoint. We saw a similar passage in verses 9 and 10) AS A CITY — as it were a city, a pillar and a wall of bronze; for the preposition lamed and beth, that is "in," is used for caph, that is "like." Hence the Arabic translates: And now I have made you like a powerful city (or strong, or glorious) to which approach is impossible: and like a pillar, and I have made you a wall of bronze over all the land. The sense is, as if to say: I render and make you today most strong against all adversaries, so that you may be: first, like a fortified city, which defends itself excellently; secondly, like an iron pillar, which sustains all burdens placed upon it; thirdly, like a bronze wall, which receives and repels war machines without damage; and which, as Jerome says, is not tinted by any rust, nor perishes when struck by rains, but becomes stronger with age. Therefore the herald of God and a good pastor should be a pillar supporting the weak, Romans 14:1; he should be a wall exposing himself to dangers for his sheep; not mute, but of bronze in the sound of his preaching. The wall that God requires is described in Ezekiel 13:5: "You have not gone up against the enemy, nor have you built a wall for the house of Israel, to stand in battle on the day of the Lord." And the Poet: Be this your wall of bronze: To have a clear conscience.
Seneca in the Troades: You were the defense for the weary Phrygians, You were the wall, and propped upon your shoulders That city stood for ten years. Erasmus, Adages 817.
Wisely spoke Abbot Agathon in the Lives of the Fathers, book 7, chapter 13: "If you live with your neighbor, be like a stone pillar; which if wronged, does not grow angry; if honored, does not become puffed up."
God promises, says Theodoret, Jeremiah not peace, nor rest, but struggles and victory, just as Christ promised the Apostles, John chapter 16:1 and following. Hence the great courage and freedom of Jeremiah against princes and kings, namely from this one promise of God: because "I am with you;" for if God is for us, who is against us? See what hope in God accomplishes, how great are its powers! "He who dwells in the help of the Most High shall abide in the protection of the God of heaven," and all that follows in Psalm 90 pertains to this. Such were the ancient teachers, princes, and heroes of the Church.
So St. Ambrose, relying on God and strengthened by Him, bravely resisted the Emperor Valentinian and his mother Justina, who demanded that a church be given to the Arians: and when the counts and tribunes urged the Emperor to use his right, since everything was in his power, Ambrose replied: "If the Emperor asks of me what is mine, that is, my property, my money, I will not refuse; although everything that is mine belongs to the poor: but the things that are God's are not subject to imperial power. If you desire my patrimony, seize it: if my body, come: do you wish to lead me in chains? Do you wish to put me to death? It is sport to me: I will not surround myself with a guard of people, nor will I cling to the altars begging for my life, but I will offer myself as a victim for the altars." Calligonus assailed him: "Do you," he said, "while I live, despise Valentinian? I will cut off your head." To whom Ambrose replied: "God grant that you may fulfill what you threaten. For I will suffer what bishops suffer: you will do what eunuchs do." See his Epistles 32 and 33.
So Mattathias, recalling the mighty deeds of the Fathers accomplished under God's leadership, exhorts his men to resist King Antiochus, who wanted to lead the Jews into paganism: "Now therefore, O my sons, he said, be zealous for the law, and give your lives for the covenant of your fathers, etc.; for all who hope in God are not weakened. And do not fear the words of a sinful man, for his glory is dung and worms: today he is exalted, and tomorrow he is not found," 1 Maccabees chapter 2, verses 50 and 61.
So St. Theodore the Martyr, as Gregory of Nyssa testifies in his Life, when the executioners threatened him with savage tortures unless he abjured the faith of Christ, burst forth with these words: "For the confession of the Christian faith, let him who wounds, cut; and let him who strikes, tear; and let him who burns, add flame; and let him who is offended by these words, cut out my tongue."
So St. Vincent, as Prudentius testifies in his Hymn, challenging the executioners and going joyfully to the pyre, said to the tyrant: The fire with which you, O malicious one, Threaten the mystic writings, You yourself will burn more justly;
And hastening quickly to the bed of fire: The holy man mounted it willingly, With fearless countenance, As though, already conscious of his crown, He were ascending a lofty tribunal of kings.
So St. Basil, when the prefect of the Arian Emperor Valens threatened him with destruction on account of the faith: "Would," he said, "that this might truly befall me, that for the truth I might be snatched from these bonds of the body!" When the prefect urged him to consider the matter more carefully, Basil replied: "I indeed am the same today and tomorrow; and would that you not change your mind!" So Socrates, book 4, chapter 21.
Jeremiah therefore, and every just man who is brave and steadfast, is superior to all adversities, and is such as Virgil depicts: He stands firm like an unmoved rock of the sea. As a rock of the sea, when the great roar comes, Holds itself fast amid the many barking waves By its mass, and the crags and foaming rocks around Roar in vain, and the seaweed dashed against its side is thrown back.
Such was St. Lucy, virgin and martyr, who could be drawn away from faith and chastity by neither prayers nor threats, but fearlessly resisted the prefect Paschasius, trusting in the help of the Holy Spirit. And when Paschasius asked: "Is the Holy Spirit in you?" she replied: "Those who live chastely and piously are the temple of the Holy Spirit." But he said: "I will order you taken to a brothel, so that the Holy Spirit may desert you." To whom the virgin replied: "If you command me to be violated against my will, my chastity will be doubled for my crown." Therefore Paschasius, indignant, ordered Lucy to be dragged there; but by divine intervention the steadfast virgin stood so firm that she could not be moved from the spot by oxen or by any force. So the prefect ordered fire to be lit around her, drenched with pitch, resin, and boiling oil; but since not even the flame harmed her, he ordered her throat to be pierced with a sword after she had been tortured with many torments. Having received this wound, Lucy, foretelling the peace of the Church that would come when Maximian and Diocletian were dead, gave up her spirit to God on the Ides of December.
Rightly therefore the Church sings to her: "You are an immovable pillar, Lucy, bride of Christ; for all the people await you, that you may receive the crown of life." And again: "The Holy Spirit fixed her with so great a weight that the virgin of Christ remained immovable."